My first foray into using tech in PE was perhaps a little dubious. A few years ago, I started using Just Dance on Wii as a warm-up during a unit on dance with my Year 6 class.
Without wanting to stereotype, many of the boys in that class weren’t too keen at the prospect of dancing. But not only did the Wii get everyone involved in the dancing; it actually made them look forward to it, which seemed to be half the battle.
Still, I had a feeling that there were teachers doing more effective things with tech in PE than this, so I did some asking around.
Using video technology to allow pupils to record one another performing a skill seems to be popular. @TeachMrTeeDee points out that the video can then be used to help pupils compare themselves against each other as well as to elite athletes. And talking of elite examples, @TeamTait recommends building up examples of such videos on iPads, which students can then use for independent learning.
To take recording performances a bit further, you can also look into apps that allow you to do that little bit more. Hudl, an app recommended by @cooperteaching, allows you to record performances, break them down frame by frame and also annotate them. @BebbEPteach has also found the app Coach’s Eye really useful for immediate visual feedback.
Since my days of using a Wii for dance lessons, I’ve also found some more ways of my own to use tech to engage children in their fitness.
Earlier this year, I signed up for a free account at Go Noodle. With your account, you are able to access a large bank of videos that encourage short physical activities. They’re divided into various categories, such as guided dancing, stretching and calming. I gave it a go with a group of children and they’ve since set up their own Go Noodle lunchtime club, where they do some dancing and end with a meditation. It’s rather lovely to watch.
As well as impacting on student learning, it’s also worth considering how tech can make some elements of PE more efficient. Last year, our PE coordinator asked if I could come up with a system to make keeping score on sports day a bit easier. We designed a Google Form, which the pupils who were helping out used to input data onto tablets throughout the day. It allowed us to easily tot up the scores and create graphs straight from the spreadsheet the form produced after the event. You could also try another idea from @TeachMrTeeDee: using QR codes to link to rule reminders for the students who need them.
Screen time is often seen as the enemy of pupils’ health, but we should never overlook what tech can do to enhance PE and pupils’ fitness.
Claire Lotriet is a teacher at Henwick Primary School in London. She tweets at @OhLottie and blogs at www.clairelotriet.com
This is an article from the 24 June edition of TES. This week’s TES magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here
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